First Baptist Church, Georgetown was founded October 5, 1862 by the Reverend Sandy Alexander, a former slave. Prior to the formal organization of the Church, Collins Williams, a licensed preacher from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and his wife Betsey, had led religious meetings in Georgetown in private residences on 27th and P Streets, 27th and N Streets, and then at his own home. Collins Williams donated a small piece of land at 29th and O Streets to be used for a church.
In 1856, Rev. Alexander came to Georgetown to start a Baptist Church but found only two Baptists in the community. However, he was soon able to find many converts and built up a large congregation that was greatly expanded by the arrival of a group from the Shiloh Church of Fredericksburg. This congregation erected a small frame structure known as the “Ark” on the land donated by Collins Williams at 29th and O Streets. The building was soon found to be too small and a committee of Brothers, Henry Lucas, William Wormley and William T. Brown selected the present site at 27th and Dumbarton Streets for the new building.
Rev. Alexander embarked on a trip north and solicited $300.00 for the new building while the members were able to negotiate a loan for another $300.00. The cornerstone for the Church was laid in 1882. The male members of the Church dug foundations at night while the women cooked hot suppers. The cost of the stone foundations was $800.00 which exhausted the building fund so that for a time the building stood incomplete. Finally, Rev. Alexander himself took over the responsibility of seeing that the building was completed. Read more